Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Green sunfish have out numberd my Bgills!!!

My pond is about 50 by 50 yards in a circular shape. Its max depth is 6 feet and is shaped like a bowl. It is 5 years old and holds a WIDE variety of fish. One day I was fishing in my pond about 5 years ago when after catching 50+ Bgills I caught a greensunfish.At first I had no clue at what it was. Then one year I was catching all Bills and not one Greenie. Now I catch at least 5 greenies before I catch one Bgill. I dont want these Green Sunfish and want to Know how I can get rid of them before they kill all my nice 8" gills. If it matters I have about 12 15"+ bass in my pond along w/ golden shiners, very few catfish and bullheads, and a small number of perch.

Help please!!!!!!!!!

JD you are learning first hand why green sunfish are usually considered undesirable. As I see it, with a pond your size, you have about 3 options; individually or in combination.

1. Add more bass to effectively prey on the abundant sunfish. Buy and stock bass that are about 2.5 to times longer than the most common sized greenies (prob. 6-8" bass). As bass grow and continue to thin the sunfish you will have to thin their numbers. Ideally you should be removing the largest bass and adding smaller bass until the green sunfish are again rare in your catches. Small and medium sized bass will tend to select vulnerable greenies as prey items before bgill and larger shiners.

2. Start an intensive program of using traps (1/4"-1/2" mesh) to selectively remove green sunfish. Release desirable fish back into the pond. Green sunfish readily enter fish traps baited with bread. This can assist bass in reducing greenies.

3. Kill off all the fish the pond and start over.

Bill, thanks for the advice #2 looks like a good choice, while #3 is out of the question. Along with the stocking of my pond, that will not be necessary, since I have plenty 8" to 10" bass in my pond already with plenty of larger ones 16+".

Is it possible for me to go out with a ton of buddies and fish them out of my small pond? Its winter here in Wisconsin and they do bite hard and frequent during the winter. There cant be more than 200 hundred of them, and with a group of 10 people we could catch more than 100 hundred of them. usally the only greenies that do bite are 6 to 8 inches long. My bass could eat anything smaller than that. As long as my Bgill prospure I will be happy.

Is this a good (possible) resolution?

Thanks for your help!!

Angling for the greenies can remove many of them. But I personally think the trapping is a better option to remove green sunfish. Here is why. Intensive fishing pressure on a small pond such as yours (0.5ac) will condition the overall fish community to become hook smart and you will have more difficulty in the future catching the resident fish. Traps are very effecive at catching greenies and they do not inpact the hook and line fishing prospects.

I agree with Bill on the trapping. Also realize that time is an importaint factor. Greens directly compete with bass for food. They have a much larger mouth than a bluegill and are voracious predators. Bluegill and greens have benn crossed producing the infamous "Georgia Giant" (that is my opinon on the origins of the georgia giant) the problem I have seen with people that have used hybrid bgs is that the f1 crosses are very good but future generations revert back to green sunfish phenotypes. So after a few years all the hybrids are gone and you are left with mostly green sunfish genetics. The longer you wait the more hybrid sunfish you will have in your pond and the harder it will be to avoid option 3.

Bass will eat the greenies over the bgill, their shape goes down easier. You already have a good number of bass in there, I would do it the good old fashioned way. Get the smallest hook possible, some worms, sit on the bank and relax. Toss the bgill back in, toss the greenies over your shoulder. I consider that fun, a real time waster.

Maybe a "time waster" yet it is producive. What better way to spent time with a youngster.

I'm not a fish expert but am interested in this topic. If this pond is in Wisconsin with a maximum depth of only 6-feet, I'm thinking that low oxygen levels during the winter could provide the green sunfish a competitive advantage over the bluegills. The greenie can tolerate very low DO. The bluegills are not able to out produce the greenies due to winter mortality. Does that make sense?

Steve - Your theory could be a possibility. Lack of predators could also contribute. In reality, as with most pond conditions, it is probably a combination of factors. One thing is rarely totally responsible.